Salto Project branding and web

In early 2018, we got a call about a project that needed “a logo, a website, and a name.” What later became known as the Salto Project was born from an experiment in personal generosity by a Venezuelan expat. A year later, the situation in the country deteriorated enough to trigger an emerging refugee crisis. It was time to turn this experiment into a non-profit. The hope: that given the right platform, rally people would rally into action.

The story is complex and the audience is global. What he needed from that ‘logo, website, and name’ was a way to quickly and clearly communicate what Salto is about—how it feels.

A couple of days later, we set out to bring the brand to life.

Process

The first thing that’s clear about this project and its founder is that it takes an optimistic, constructive perspective of the problem it was born to solve.

Rather than dwelling on what afflicts the country, its focus has always been about what can be done. Salto–which is Spanish for jump or leap–is about the power of us as a community to remove obstacles. It specifically targets would-be emigrants who have a thoughtful plan to leave the country and opportunities waiting for them, but just don’t have the resources needed to start their journey.

One of the goals of this branding project was to start a conversation about refugees without falling into the institutional clichés of tent camps, borders, or distress. Instead of looking back at the pain left behind, Salto aims to look forward, to the bright future that we can help provide to survivors, and create a community around an optimistic perspective of immigration.

About a dozen different concepts were developed. What felt combined with a simplification of the universally-known shape of a paper plane, what proved to be most effective, both conceptually and emotionally. A bright color palette was developed, and once paired with a clean sans serif typeface with large counters (the areas of a letter enclosed by it, in this case the uppercase A, O, P and R) we arrived at the solution needed: branding that delivers a message of hope. It also covers the basics: it’s recognizable from any distance, versatile so it can be used on many materials, and readable in low-quality prints or low light circumstances.

Results

The brand was selected for the clarity of its message. When the mark was shown to audiences unfamiliar with project, they got the concept and its sentiments: “this is about migration”, “this project is related to migrants”, “this is about displaced populations”. The overall mood was always consistently understood thanks to a good practice of color psychology: while the person’s specific situation might be difficult, the project is optimistic in its approach. A clear message was being transmitted across different audiences, using just two polygons and a photograph.

Last year, Salto Project helped 22 people escape the county and rebuild their lives elsewhere. A GoFundMe campaign was opened in February 2018 to officially launch the project. Along with branding, In-House also developed a simple one-page website in two languages, which you can visit here: saltoproject.org

“Starting a new brand can be something very intimidating. In-House International helped me all the way from the beginning of the campaign, helping me to understand exactly the message I needed to transmit to my audience. They created a simple, easy to remember name, built a wonderful design and brand around it and did it in a record time. They needed minimal feedback. A real joy working with them, and I am extremely pleased with the results. They talked to me, understood my needs and turned that into a wonderful execution of the concept, much better than anything I could have imagined in terms of branding, with superb, world class design.

I have gotten a lot of feedback about the campaign, and 100% of the feedback related to the design has been overwhelmingly positive. I totally recommend their services. They have the skill to understand your message and turn it into something beautiful and inspiring.”